


12 - Catching Attention

by Jillybeanjoy



Series: Venom [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-17 04:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18958315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jillybeanjoy/pseuds/Jillybeanjoy
Summary: Eddie and Venom catch the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and get separated while being taken into custody.





	1. Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Venom are taken by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Eddie knocked on the door of Anne and Dans apartment. Dan had called him and asked if they could move Thursday dinner with the three of them to Thursday Lunch. After a moment Dan opened the door and let them inside. 

Eddie looked around but didn’t see Anne, though there was a couple pizza boxes on the table. “I decided to pick up food, I hope you don’t mind.” Dan said. Venom could smell the grease and meat and was giving a grudging approval. 

“No, of course not... is Anne still at work?”

“Yeah, she won’t be coming. I thought that we could talk.” Dan said, trying to seem casual as he grabbed a paper plate and handed it to him. He looked strangely at Eddie and said “I kind of wanted to talk to... both of you. Though I’m unsure how that... works.” 

A black tendril poked out of Eddies shirt and slithered in the air for a moment before becoming Venoms head. Venom stared at Dan, saying only to Eddie **Eddie, you think I can make him piss himself?**

Eddie cleared his throat, and gave Venom a “don’t-you-dare” look. 

“So, I’ve been thinking...” Dan started. 

Eddie swallowed. Nothing good ever followed “I’ve been thinking...” in his life. 

“The last time you guys were... together, Venom had a... specific diet?” Dan faltered. “Anne said you ate heads. Human heads.”

Eddie opened his mouth but Venom spoke first **“Only bad ones. Eddie makes sure we don’t eat policemen.”**

“V!” Eddies face was bright red. “Uh, Yeah, Dan. During the whole Life Foundation there were a few...” fuck, how did Eddie explain this without sounding like a cannibal? “A few of the guys chasing us, became...” 

**“Fuel in the tank.”**

“Not helping, V.” Eddie moaned. He looked at Dan, trying to gauge his reaction, but he was very difficult to read. “But, after we got separated and Venom came back, we’ve set some very firm ground rules. On what is okay and what is not okay.” 

Venom gives a pseudo-shrug and starts eating one of the pizzas whole. 

“Well, since Venom is staying, I’m hoping that there’s a way that we can get Venom what he needs without the... uh, human heads.” 

**“Only bad ones.”** Venom reminded. Eddie wanted to face palm so bad. 

Dan looked between Eddie and Venom. “Right... but even only bad ones can make it possible for people to find out about you.” 

Eddie looked at him questioningly. 

Dan sighed, “I had someone come into the hospital yesterday. A man in a suit, said he was with the CDC, asking about what I knew about the Life Foundation fiasco.” He was watching Venom the whole time. “Someone thinks... or knows, I don’t know... that not all the symbiotes are dead.” 

Venom stopped eating and looked to Eddie, but Eddie was staring blankly into the void, his face white. **Eddie?**

Eddie looked up at Dan. “How?” 

“I don’t know, but he was asking if anyone came into the hospital since the night of the explosion... with strange ailments. The things he listed were all things that you were exhibiting when you first became a host...” 

**“So we eat him.”** Venom stared simply. 

“No!” Eddie slammed his hand on the table. Then he looked at his hand and shook his head. He needs to calm down. “Just because he’s looking for us doesn’t make him bad that just means we have to be careful. Which we should have been since the get go.” He looked back at Dan. “What do you suggest?” Eddie asked. 

“Well, the diet is the main concern I think. Everything else should be easy to hide once your... diet is filled. I was thinking about how our cravings are a good indicator of what we nutritionally need. So maybe a list of things that Venom and you... like. Maybe even if you could keep some kind of food journal. Then I’d also like to do a few blood tests to see what your levels are, maybe a test from a hair sample as well, and we can play around with your diet and see how it effects the results.” As Dan spoke Venom curled back inside of Eddie, bored now. 

Eddie nodded, “sure thing. If you got a pen and paper I can start the list of what he likes right now, then we can send you the food journal as it happens or all at once?” 

“Either is fine... Eddie exactly how often do you guys... find bad ones?” Dan seemed hesitant to ask. 

“Around weekly,” Eddie mumbled. 

Dan gave a nod. “Well, lets see what we can do about that.” 

* * *

**Eddieeeeeeeee** the symbiote whined. 

Eddie winced, “I know, buddy. You’re hungry.” He wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to be able to do this when there was a knock on the door. Eddie stood up and opened the door to see a grave looking man in a black suit. As soon as he saw him he could feel Venom crawling just under his skin, ready to pounce before the man could blink if needed. 

“Eddie Brock?” The man asked. 

“Yeah.” Eddie took a step out into the hallway and shut the door behind him. 

The man hands him a business card but Eddie doesn’t look at it, just takes it without breaking eye contact. “My name is Grant Ward I had some questions about the Life Foundation i was hoping you could help me with.” 

“Everything I know is in the expose I wrote.” Eddie was stern. This man was the reason he and Venom were starving. He could feel Venom growl in his chest. 

“Are you sure about that?” He asked. Eddies eyes tightened. “I just mean maybe there was something you didn’t know you know.” Eddie’s neighbors door opened and he walked out, giving the two a look before going down the hallway and disappearing. “Maybe we can talk somewhere privately about it.” 

“Can’t. I’m busy.” He stood there, staring the man up and down. Taking in every detail he could. The details of his suit. The scar on his neck right under the right ear. Trying to guess his height and weight. 

The man nodded. “Well, if you change your mind, my number is on the card.” He gave a shrug, “I still think there’s something going on with the Life Foundation. Imagine if you could be the first to break news on it again.” 

Eddie watched him leave until he was completely out of sight before going back into his apartment. **We could have eaten him.**

Eddie sighed. “Yeah, because that wouldn’t bring up some red flags.” He started rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “He’s not alone. He has friends. If he goes missing they’ll know who the last person to talk to them was. And right now, all he has is a hunch. If he goes missing that tells anyone who wants to know that his hunch was too close.” 

Eddie plopped himself on the couch. “He thinks something is still happening with the Life Foundation.” 

Venom gave a hum. 

Eddie chewed on his lip as he thought. Maybe he wasn’t paranoid. Maybe he was right during Halloween. Life Foundation could still be kicking, somewhere. Does that mean Carlton Drake survived? Or Riot even? Or is someone unknown running things now? If Life Foundation was still around what could they want? Venom? Eddie? Both of them? Or more than that? 

**We won’t let them touch us.** Venom assured. 

Eddie gave a small smile and started rubbing his sternum until Venom creeped out and he could pet him. “V... I have to know what’s going on.” 

Venom looked Eddie in the eyes. **So what do we do?**

Eddie almost laughed. “Just like that? You’re not going to try to talk me out of it?” 

**Not knowing is more dangerous. Besides, I can protect us.**

* * *

Eddie hid in the shadows, leaning against a wall, trying to make himself as small as possible outside the dirty motel. He had followed Mr. Grant Ward, the man in the suit who came to his house, to this place. Which only made him more sure that he wasn’t CDC like he said. 

Eddie peeled himself from the wall and started making his way to the parking lot. Once he was beside the car that he saw the man use he started fiddling in his pockets like he was looking for keys as he tried to take in every detail of the car. 

It was nothing special. Black. Obviously a rental. There was a folder on the passenger side, but otherwise completely empty. Eddie sighed and went back, pretending to have forgotten his keys. 

**I can get that.** Venom suggests

“We don’t want to break into the car. We want to find things out without anyone knowing we’ve found anything. Or that we’re looking.” Eddie slips back to his former position. After a while of waiting the man leaves his motel room and gets into his car.

Eddie starts to take a step forward when an ear splitting screech tears his head open. He jams the heels of his hands into his ears and falls to his knees. Venom is thrashing, twisting, turning inside him; trying desperately to escape. 

He’s about to be thrown out of Eddies body when it stops and Eddie slumps to the ground. 

* * *

_You’re weak. Nothing. Can’t even protect yourself. No good. Rotten. Parasite._

No. 

_A walking wreck. You destroy everything you touch. Fucking poison. Deserve to be alone._

What? What was going on? No. 

_You’ve killed him. Are you happy now? He’s dead. You’ve killed him. Murderer._

Eddie groaned and tried to open his eyes. But failed. No. No. No. “Venom” He croaked. 

He could feel cool concrete under him. Under his stomach, the palms of his hands, his cheek. Suddenly his whole body seized for an eternity before he slumped back on the floor. 

Eddie coughed and his voice was hoarse. He focused on every breath, trying to gain up the willpower to open his God damn eyes. In. Out. In. Out. In. 

He looked, but his vision was blurry and unfocused. Crude shapes all whites and grays. He couldn’t make out the lines telling him where one object ended and another started. 

He felt hollow. Like an empty shell. 

“Venom” He croaked again. Calling out. Please still be there. Please be okay. 

Nothing. 

It was all his worst fears in one. He was alone. Venom was gone. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Venom was gone. What happened to Venom? Where was he?

With Herculean effort Eddie closed his eyes and started grounding himself like Dan and Chris taught him. Five things he could see. He blinked, trying to make sense of what he saw. The concrete floor. The glass wall. He looked down at himself, and he wasn’t wearing his usual clothes but scrubs instead. His feet were bare. He looks through the glass, across the hall, in the opposite room he could see one of the containment cylinders with the black amorphous goo of Venom thrashing inside. All ideas of grounding himself are gone. His heart stopped. His breathing gone. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and alarms sounded. 

He felt hands grabbing him. Trying to keep him still as his body seized again out of his control. His eyes weren’t seeing but the image of Venom thrashing in that container was burned into him and scarred. It was all he could see. 

_Make it stop. Make them stop hurting him. Do something._

Eddie was trying. The shaking stopped, he couldn’t move a muscle. 

_Loser. You failed him again. Couldn’t keep him safe._

Something itched inside Eddie like a memory. “V,” he breathed the word and it scratched the whole way. 

_Best partner ever. Best host. And you ruined it._

Eddie put every last reserve of energy into the phrase, trying to force out enough volume that the symbiote would be able to hear through the glass. “I hear you.” 

* * *

“Wait, what?” Jemma Simmons stood up and took a step back. The woman looked between the unconscious man and the alien in the next room. “Did he just say he could...” 

“...hear it.” Leo Fitz finished her sentence. He stood as well and poked his head out of the room “Someone get over here, please!” He called out then looked back at the woman. “Is that even...”

“...possible?” The woman started pacing. “I mean who knows? This is an alien. It made sense for them to have a connection when they were joined but if that connection stays established when separated that would be...”

“Unparalleled.” Fitz finished with a solemn nod. “We’ll have to do more study on the effects after separation. Exactly how connected are they? Do they still feel what the other feels? Sees? Smells?” 

Agent May walked in ”What’s going on here?” 

Simmons walked over and started talking excited with her hands. “They’re still communicating. Well, we think so. If you can believe the word of a half conscious man who had just suffered a gran mal seizure. Which maybe you shouldn’t. But it would make sense. What if there was still something inside of him that connects him to the alien? It would explain...” 

“...The human and the alien both.” Fitz finished again. He made his way over to the women. “Neither of them have been acting the way we have expected” 

“Why were you two in here alone with him? You know the protocol.” 

Simmons narrowed her eyes. “He was having a grand mal seizure.” 

“He could have been faking it.” 

Simmons pointed to the glass where red lighted up letters covered a small rectangle “You can fake shaking around on the floor but you can’t fake a seizure with those vitals.” 

“It was dangerous.” Agent May stated cooly and walked out. 

“Well then!” Simmons huffed and left as well. 

Fitz gave Eddie a wary glance before leaving and shutting the glass between them. 

* * *

_Eddie. Where’s Eddie? What have they done to Eddie?_

Eddie woke up strapped to a chair with a jolt. Upon hearing Venoms distant thoughts his head was clear and running fast. He looked around and it was obvious he was in an interrogation room, with a man in his mid fifties watching him from the other side of a metal table. Agent Phil Coulson. Eddie tried to calm down his breath but he had only one thought. “Where’s Venom? What did you do to him?” 

“Venom?” Coulson wrote something on a small notepad. “Is that what you’re calling it?” 

Eddie spat at him. “Where is he?!” He shouted. His voice was still raw and broke on the last syllable but Eddie couldn’t care less. 

“We have some questions for you Mr. Brock.” Coulson said calmly. Eddie wanted to rip his throat out. He gave a smile. “How about we help each other? I’ll answer a question if you’ll answer a question.” 

“Where. Is. Venom.” Eddie demanded. 

“The alien that we retrieved is just in the other room.” Coulson was smug “My turn. You didn’t have the alien when S.H.I.E.L.D. talked to you last. When did it come back?” 

Eddie chewed on the inner corner of his cheek. 

“You’ve got to answer the question if you want any answered.” The man reminded him. 

“As soon as I came back to my apartment.” He said. Eddie thought carefully. Picking his question with as much thought as possible so that he would have to answer as few as possible. “Who do you work for?” 

“The Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. Are you aware of the fact that this creature used your body to kill a dozen people since being infected?” 

So this is about the people they ate. Dan was right. It was raising questions. Eddie hadn’t really been counting. He tried to do the math in his head. “Only bad ones.” His answer seemed to surprise him but Eddie was only half paying attention The memory of how many times he’s told Venom that, told himself that, was like a giant weight in his gut. 

But he hadn’t been arrested he had been kidnapped. By a group with the word Espionage in their name. So this wasn’t exactly above the board either. But they saw him as a hazard or whatever and were intervening. So the real question was, how were they planning on intervening with the hazard of Eddie and Venom? “What do you want with us?” 

”Eddie, it isn’t us anymore. We’ve separated you. The alien can’t control you anymore.” Coulson told him. 

Eddie shook his head. “No. It’s always us. It will always be us.”

Coulson looked Eddie over carefully. “Fitz Simmons seemed to have the idea that you are still connected to it. That you can communicate with it even separated.” 

Eddie breathed heavily. 

“Are you?” He pressed. 

Eddie closed his eyes and tried to focus on the distant feeling of Venom. Not inside him. He couldn’t feel Venom swimming inside his body or hear him as clearly as when they were together. But he knew he was alive. And knew he wouldn’t be for long if Eddie didn’t do something. 

He looked back at the agent, praying that honesty would mean something. “I can feel you killing him. You can’t keep him in a tank, it’ll killing him! He needs a host. Please!” 

Coulson stood up and walked out, leaving Eddie alone in the interrogation room. May was waiting outside the door. “What do you think?” He asked. “Stockholm syndrome?”

May stared at him. 

Coulson sighed. “Put him back in the room he was in earlier so we can keep track of his vitals. I’m going to move the symbiote though. Hopefully the effect will end or lesson if they aren’t so close together.” 

“Do you think he’s a victim, Coulson, or do you just want him to be?” May asked. 

“I think it’s impossible to know.”


	2. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did S.H.E.I.L.D. Find out about Eddie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is very Agents of SHIELD centric and doesn’t show very much Eddie or Venom, but I promise the rest of the chapters get lots of Eddie time

Phil Coulson stood in front of his newly made team. Two scientists, an ex-hackivist, a field agent who doesn’t play well with others and the best combatant who doesn’t want to be in combat. All looking to him for debriefing on their next mission. 

“In April, the Life Foundation” their logo appeared on the screen “took a rocket into space, landed on a asteroid and returned with four alien life forms that they called symbiotes.” A video, taken from the Life Foundations archives showed the yellow amorphous goo entering into a rabbit

“You’re kidding? That’s amazing!” Simmons sat up straighter looking at Fitz excitedly. 

“Yeah, not so much.” Coulson continued “For six months they did highly illegal and unethical human testing on homeless people. We were about to step in when a reporter Eddie Brock” a picture from the Brock Report appears “uncovered what happened, and the owner Carlton Drake” a picture of Drake appeared “went crazy and was killed in the explosion of a second rocket that he was trying to take to retrieve more of the symbiotes and bring them back to earth.” A video of the rocket exploding. “SHIELD went in, covered up all alien involvement and that seemed to be that. Two of the four symbiotes died in testing, the other two appeared to die in the explosion. But apparently that isn’t completely true.” A blurry video of a large black shape licking a mans face with an impossibly long tongue. “We have twelve different instances of someone coming in to the police saying they were about to mugged or robbed or raped when a large black monster ate their attackers in one bite. All starting after the explosion at Life Foundation, so we think it’s one of the aliens.” 

“An alien from outer space is eating rapists and muggers in San Francisco?” Skye repeated. 

“Apparently. We know that sound frequencies between a specific range hurt them so, Fitz, I’d like you engineer something that will incapacitate it using that frequency. I’m sending everything the Life Foundation about these things to Simmons so that she can help. Ward, I want you to go to the hospitals in the area. Apparently these aliens attach themselves to a human host and use the host to survive until they kill the human host and move on to the next one. Host exhibit specific symptoms; fever, organ failure, a very high appetite. See if anyone has come in with these symptoms.” 

“What about me?” Skye asked. 

“We’ve found one video of this thing at a light up night. See if you can find anything more. The more information we have on it the better.” Coulson told her. 

“What exactly is the mission here?” Skye asked, “We find the alien and then what?” 

“We separate it from the human host before it kills them and bring it in to a SHIELD facility.” 

“What happens to it at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility?” She looked to the others, but they didn’t say anything. 

“That’s not for us to know. We’re just bringing it in as a personal favor for Director Fury.” Coulson answered, earning a look from Agent May. 

“Okay then.” 

* * *

Ward walked into the third hospital and went to the reception desk where the receptionist was speaking to a doctor. He waited for them to finish then showed his fake CDC ID badge and asked to see the head of the ER. “I’m heading that way, I can show you.” Offered the doctor. 

“I appreciate it, thank you.” Ward said before following him. 

“So what’s the CDC doing here?” The doctor asked after a moment. 

“We’re tracking a possible outbreak. Something new. Causes fever, organ failure and increase in appetite.” Ward informed him. 

“Increase of appetite?” The doctor asked “Usually anything that causes fever and organ failure doesn’t make people hungry. When did this outbreak start?” 

“Our first case was early October.” Ward watched as the doctor started fidgeting with his lab coat sleeves. “We got a hint that there might still be cases out there so I thought I’d speak with the head of your ER to see if you’ve had anyone with similar symptoms.” 

“Oh,” the doctor was very obviously looking everywhere but at Ward. They stopped in front of a door as they doctor knocked. “Well this is it. Hope you find what you are looking for.” He was about to walk- run really- away when Ward grabbed his arm. 

“Hey, if you see or hear of anything give me a call.” He said, handing the doctor his card. 

“Yeah, sure. Thanks.” The doctor said hurriedly before leaving quickly. The office door opened as the head of the ER took Ward in. 

“Do you know who that doctor was?” Agent Ward asked. 

“That was Dr. Dan Lewis. He’s one of our general surgeons.” The other doctor told him. 

“Perfect. Thank you.” Ward took his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to Skye before turning his attention back to the head of the ER. 

* * *

Ward came back to the bus for another “team meeting.” After being to every hospital in San Francisco. It was a very long day. 

“So what do we have?” Coulson asked. 

“I designed this.” Fitz said, pulling out what looked like a pen and setting it on the table. “If you see the alien you click the pen and it emits a frequency in the range that incapacitates the symbiote.” 

“However,” continues Simmons “we have no idea how that affects the human host. From the Life Foundation notes it seemed to be pretty painful to both so as soon as they are down you should probably turn it off.”

Coulson looked to Skye. “So other than the eye witnesses, none of which got out their cameras, the only thing I was able to find on this thing was a single YouTube video from a light up night earlier this month, but in the video the creature... monster.... whatever, doesn’t eat anyone, though it does lick one guy in the face.” She shakes her head. “But, what caught my attention was the expose on the Life Foundation written by Eddie Brock... like I know that S.H.I.E.L.D. came in and tried to make the whole aliens part disappear, but I’ve read some of Eddies other stuff and he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who can be silenced. Even by S.H.I.E.L.D. so I was surprised I didn’t see something, anything, about it in his expose...”

“I think you’ll find we can be quite persuasive.” Agent May informed her. 

“Or He has another reason for keeping quiet.” Skye said as she brought up on the screen what she found “In his medical history we can see that right before the Life Foundation explosion he had a fever so high he should have been dead and almost every organ was failing. After the explosion he had some minor burns, a concussion and some weird nutrient deficiency but all his organs were magically healed. The hospital thinks they must have accidentally switched his test results with someone else and he never had the organ failure but we also know from Life Foundation files that he had one of these aliens inside him for a little bit...”

“What do you think Simmons?” Coulson asked “So did the alien cause the organ failure or fix it? Is it temporary?” 

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Simmons said “these Life Foundation scientists were horrible. They basically just threw everything at a wall to see what would stick. No real scientific experimentation, their notes are incompetent, I’m amazed they were able to get a rocket in the air, let alone onto the asteroid.” 

“I didn’t tell you the best part yet.” Skye said with a smug smile. “About two weeks after the explosion, his credit cards gets a little weird. Suddenly he’s buying four times the amount of food that he used to. Isn’t an increase in appetite a symptom?”

“You think the alien never left Eddie?” Ward asked. 

“No, S.H.I.E.L.D. was thorough. They checked and Eddie didn’t have it when we checked him out.” Coulson said. 

“If he had it the whole time then the credit cards would have started when the explosion started. But it didn’t. It started two weeks after. I don’t think it never left, I think it just came back.” Skye shrugged

“The LIFE Foundation was pretty excited about how Eddie was first test subject to achieve true symbiosis...” Simmon agreed “Maybe the symbiote knew that and that’s why it went back.” 

“Why didn’t he contact his handler then? We gave him a contact within S.H.I.E.L.D. in case anything came up.” Coulson asked, mostly to himself. 

“Well... according to the Life Foundation... it seems impossible to tell who is in charge of their shared body...” Simmon started

“It’s not quite like body snatchers. The symbiote doesn’t have to be in charge or control every second. But it has the ability to completely control the hosts actions when it wants.” Fitz finished for her. 

“So Eddie might not have contacted his handler because he physically can’t.” Agent May said to Coulson. 

“Alright.” Coulson nodded his head. “This is what we are going to do. We’re going to take the van, I want Fitz Simmons and Skye inside while Ward and I will go and talk to Eddie and try to get a read on whether or not the symbiote is with him and if so how much control he has.” 

“With all due respect,” May interjected “Eddie is a reporter. If two men knock on his door asking questions, he’s going to follow them and try to figure out who they are. Do you really want to lead him to a van full of non-combatants if he has an alien that eats people inside him?”

“What if we count on him following? I can go in alone, with you as my backup but not visible, then I lead him to a secondary location that is away from civilians” Ward offered. 

“You think he’ll fall for it?” Coulson asked Skye “You seem to be the one who knows the most about him.”

Skye thought for a moment. “Maybe give him a bugged business card as plan B, but... the less collateral damage the better.” 

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

* * *

Skye and Fitz Simmons sat in the lab listening to the business card bugs feed.

“Well, if you change your mind, my number is on the card.” They heard Grant say to Eddie. 

“Do you really think he’ll keep it?” Fitz asked. 

“Let’s hope, because we didn’t get a whole lot from Wards conversation.” Simmons sighed. 

There was a moment of silence. A door opening and closing. Eddie sighed. “Yeah, because that wouldn’t bring up some red flags.” 

“Who’s he talking to?” Skye whispered. Fitz Simmons both shrugged 

“He’s not alone.” Eddie continued. “He has friends. If he goes missing they’ll know who the last person to talk to them was. And right now, all he has is a hunch. If he goes missing that tells anyone who wants to know that his hunch was right.” 

There was silence. “Do you think he’s talking to the symbiote?” Skye asked. 

“Who else would it be?” Simmons asked genuinely. 

“V... I have to know what’s going on.” Eddie continued, everyone was quiet. “Just like that? You’re not going to try to talk me out of it?” Eddie laughed “Alright lets go.”

Skye grabbed her phone and called Ward. “He took the bait.” 

* * *

Coulson stepped out from behind the corner with the device Fitz made to incapacitate the alien in his hand. He clicked it and watched Eddie cover his ears and fall to his knees. Black sludge seemed to jump from him, still connected but barely. Ward ran over with one of the containment cylinders and tried to catch it. 

Eddie collapsed the ground and the amorphous alien left his body and Ward scooped it up in the container, slammed it closed and pressed a button that released all the air from it, making it a vacuum. Phil clicked the pen again to make the noise stop. 

Coulson and Ward exchanged a look between heavy breaths. Coulson called out to his ear piece “Simmons, it’s safe, can you come check on Eddie?” 

Simmons ran out from the motel room and started checking Eddie’s vitals. “He seems stable.” She said. “But I think we should take him with us so that I can run more tests and be sure he’s okay.” 

Coulson nodded. “Let’s get back to the bus.”


	3. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne and Dan realize Eddie is missing and Skye and Simmons try to help Eddie.

Anne smiled as she answered the phone “Oh, hey, I was just about to call you.” 

“Have you seen Eddie?” Dan asked abruptly. 

Anne face flushed red. Dan knew she was still angry with her ex. He had lied, yet again, and she was frankly sick of it. “No.” She answered curtly. 

“Look, I know you’re pissed, but I seriously think somethings wrong.” 

Of course there was. There’s always something wrong with Eddie. Always something. The man was more drama than anyone else she had ever known. She loved Dan for caring but enough was enough. “Eddie will be fine...” 

“Anne, listen to me.” Dan interrupted her. She was shocked. Dan never interrupted anyone. “Someone’s been asking about his... friend, at my work. I told him about it yesterday at lunch and now when I called to check up on his medication he’s not answering his phone.” 

Anne was struggling inside of herself. She looked at her watch. “Okay, well lunch wasn’t that long ago. And there could be a lot of reasons for him to not answer the phone. Maybe he’s in the shower.” 

There was silence on the other end. “Maybe youre right, but I rather be safe than sorry. Can you give me his address and I’ll pop over before I head home?” 

Anne sighed. “Dan, he’s fine. He’s a grown ass man.” 

“Please, Anne.” Dan pressed. 

Anne rolled her eyes. “Fine, but I’m meeting you there.”

* * *

May knocked on Coulson’s office door. “Come in.” She entered the room and Coulson was sitting at his desk. 

“I’d like to talk to you about Eddie Brock.” May said. 

“I figured you would.” Coulson sighed. 

“I know you want to believe that this alien was controlling him the whole time, but I’m not sure that’s the case.” May sat down across from him. “If it was purely the alien then why would it only be people committing crimes? Why would an alien care?”

“You think he’s some cold blooded killer?” Coulson asked. 

“I think he has more control than you think he does.” May told him “And I find it very strange that he’s still so protective of it if he was just some victim of it controlling him.” 

“This is definitely a strange situation.” Coulson allowed. “But it also not for us to decide. We’ll take them both to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and trust the process.” 

* * *

_Eddie. Lost. Gone._

The stray and distant thoughts of Venom were getting further and less frequent. Eddie was terrified to know if it was just the because it’s been longer and longer since they were together or if it was an indicator of the aliens health. 

Eddie slammed a fist on the glass wall separating him from the rest of the world. From the rest of his world. They had moved him, so he could no longer see Venom in that cramped container. But somehow not seeing it was worse. 

Someone walked by in a lab coat. “Hey! Hey, hey, hey!” He called, waving and jumping even though they were right there ignoring him as they walked by. He groaned and with a dramatic spin plopped himself on the ground. 

“Hey.” He looked up and there was a young woman on the other side of the glass. “I’m Skye.”

Eddie stood up and went over to the glass. “Hey, can you tell me what’s going on? Where am I?” He had originally thought he was in the Life Foundation, but has sense felt the floor move underneath of him. 

“We’re transporting you. Taking you into SHIELD custody.” She said hesitantly. “I’ve read your articles. How you took down the Life Foundation for their human trials that were killing homeless people...” 

Eddie blew out air, “Yeah, one of them being my friend Maria.” He looked at her carefully. “Do you know anything about the alien they took from me?” 

She shook her head. 

He put a hand on the glass, “You guys are killing him. He needs a host to survive.” 

She looked at him warily. “Well, isn’t that a good thing? It won’t control you anymore.” 

His heart broke at the very thought. What? No. “If he dies, I die.” Eddie stated simply. He wasn’t going to survive without Venom. Even if he could, he wouldn’t. 

Her eyes got wide, though it was obvious she was trying to hide it. She looked at the panel on the glass, the rectangle of red lettering reading his vitals. Eddie wondered idly what she saw. He felt like shit. He felt weak and has had a few more seizures since he was separated. He knew Venom had only kept him at the peak of health and Venom had assured him before that he would never hurt Eddie. So he had no idea why when they separated after the explosion he hadn’t had adverse effects but now was. Maybe it was because they were bonded longer now. Now he needed Venom as much as Venom needed him. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t really care. 

She looked back at him. “I won’t let that happen.” She promised and ran away. Skye raced to Fitz Simmons lab. As soon as she got there the first person she saw was Jemma. 

“Simmons have you seen Eddie?” Skye asked in a rush. 

Jemma looked up from her microscope. “I’ve been keeping an eye on his monitors, but I’m not allowed anywhere near him because Agent May thinks he’s dangerous.” Just a dash of bitterness seeped into her tone. “You know, I am an agent as well. I may not be a field agent but I am still SHIELD. I’m not a child.” 

Skye waved her hand to bring Jemma back to topic. “Eddie thinks that if the alien dies it will kill him too.” 

Jemma gave a small start. “Does he? Did the alien tell him that or is he thinking that because of his own decline and connecting that to the separation? But the real question would be how would the parasite do that even after separation? And how would we even fix something like... wait, were you talking to Eddie?” Jemma have her a disapproving scowl. 

“I stayed on the right side of the glass the whole time I promise!” Skye swore. 

“You’re not even SHIELD.” Jemma started grabbing things, gathering them into her arms. “If anyone should be able to see the physically ill man that we are holding captive it should be me. Not only would I be able to learn a lot more about the alien and his connection but I could probably save his life!” Jemma grabbed a last thing before leaving the room, then after a moment poked her head back at Skye and said “are you coming?” Expectantly. 

Skye jumped up and followed Jemma out of the lab and through the bus to where Eddie was being held. The whole time Jemma was speaking quickly, still fuming, with Skye not even catching half of it. 

When Eddie heard a voice chattering on he jumped to his feet and went to the glass. Around the corner came the young woman from before with another woman in a lab coat carrying a whole assortment of instruments. He took a few steps back from the glass as they got closer and the doctor stood before them. 

“Hello I am Dr Jemma Simmons.” She said, “Can you tell me what’s wrong, Mr. Brock?” 

Eddie stared blankly at her for a moment until Skye gave him the eye. “Where’s Venom?” He asked.

“The acquired alien is also in custody. It can’t hurt you anymore, Mr. Brock.” Jemma reassured. 

Eddie shook his head. “You need to find him a host. Give him back to me, or if you don’t trust me then a rabbit or something. But he’s _dying._ ” Eddie was begging.

Jemma was taking notes on a tablet and fiddling with the screen on his glass. “And you’re afraid that if he dies, you die, right?” She asked, looking up at him now. She had such concern, such pity in her eyes. “Did he tell you that?” 

Eddie groaned and turned his back to the two women. They were never going to understand. They would never get it. So what should he do? Lie? Pretend to be the person they thought he was to protect Venom? He would if he was sure it would protect his partner, but he wasn’t sure of that. 

_Eddie._

Venom was getting further. Or weaker. Eddie didn’t know which. He just knew he could barely feel him anymore. He whipped around, “listen, please. At least feed him. He needs meat. Or chocolate or potatoes.” 

Both of the women gave him strange looks. “Okay, Mr. Brock. We’ll get right on that. But first I want to check on you. How are you feeling?” 

Eddie slammed the glass with his fist. “I feel like you’re letting him die!” He shouted. 

“Okay, woah there” Skye said. “Look, how about this? You cooperate with Dr Simmons and I’ll go see about getting... Venom? Some food. Okay?” 

Eddie almost crumpled in relief. “Please.” He breathed. 

Jemma and Skye gave each other a nod and Skye left. Jemma looked expectantly at Eddie. “So, what about you, Mr. Brock?” 

Eddie sat down on the floor. “Eddie. You can call me Eddie.” He sighed. “I feel exhausted, and weak, and empty.” 

He closed his eyes, but could still hear the kind doctor say “Did you have any history of epilepsy before the alien?” He shook his head. “How long have you been having these seizures?” 

“Since you separated us.” His voice was full of anger. How long ago was that? How long has he and Venom been apart? 

“Eddie...” Simmon started. Eddie looked up. She had that same expression, the pity, guilt and concern. 

Eddie knew that look and gave a chuckle. “I’m dying without him again aren’t I?” 

Jemma looked to his tablet and to the glass, “I can’t figure out why. Maybe once we get off this plane and get you into a real hospital...” 

“Wait, what?” Eddie sat up quickly. “We’re on a plane?” 

Jemma looked surprised. “Well, yes, that’s how we were transporting you. I know it’s hard to tell. The bus is very large and Agent May is an excellent pilot...” 

Eddie went to the glass and put both hands on the glass. “Get us off. You have to get us off now.” He demanded. “Both of us. You need to get us off this plane!” 

Jemma was at a loss “What’s wrong?” 

It was all making sense. The pain, the seizures. It was like when he and Venom were on top of the tower and the plane flew over. It was weaker because Venom wasn’t inside him, but he was still connected to Venom and... oh God. Venom. It’s a miracle he’s survived this long. He had to get Venom out of here and now. But how?! 

“You gotta get us off this plane!” Eddie was begging. “Please you have to listen to me. You have to trust me. We need to get off this plane!” 

Jemma took a few steps backwards thinking quickly. Why is the fact that they are on a plane so important? Is it the elevation? The the atmospheric pressure? The... the engine. The one thing that they knew could incapacitate them was a certain range of sound wave frequencies. The engine was in that range. The plane was killing them. Simmon turned around and started running the other way. 

* * *

Anne and Dan stood outside Eddies apartment while Dan knocked. No answer. Dan knocked again, louder. 

“Eddie, open up!” Anne called. 

The door behind them opened as Eddies neighbor came out. “Oh, sorry,” he mumbled, and tried to slip away. 

Anne grabbed his arm, “Hey have you seen Eddie?” She asked seriously. She just wanted to know he was okay so that she could go home. 

“Not since last night, sorry.” He didn’t look her in the eye. 

That caught Dans attention “Was He alright?” 

The neighbor gave a shrug, “Yeah, I mean he was just talking to this guy in the hallway.” 

Dan and Anne exchanged a look. “Chris Maybe? Curly black hair? Kind of skittish?” 

He shook his head, “No, some gruff looking dude in a suit. I don’t know, I only saw them for half a second. I don’t want any trouble” he put up his hands. 

Anne rolled her eyes but said “Thanks” and he left. She shared a worried look with Dan. “Great. What do we do now? We can’t exactly call the police and say ‘Hey I think my friend and his cannibalistic alien parasite have been kidnapped” 

Dan looked at the floor, his eyes flickering side to side as he thought. Then he jumped and grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a business card. “I bet you anything the guy who saw him, is the guy who talked to me and he gave me his business card.” Dan pulled out his phone and started dialing. 

“What are you going to say? ‘Hey give Eddie back?’” She whispered, but Dan shushed her. 

“Hello, this is Dr Lewis from grace memorial hospital. You said we should call if we had any patients exhibiting the symptoms of a pathogen you were tracing. Well I just had someone come into the ER exhibiting quite a few of them. We’re putting them in isolation now but please come quickly. Thank you, goodbye.” He hung up. 

“Great, but what now?” She asked. 

He gave Anne a look and her stomach plummeted. “Now, we get to the hospital before they do.”


	4. Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The SHIELD team lands the bus, Coulson and Ward go to the hospital where Dan told them another symbiote and host are while Fitz Simmons and Skye try to learn more about Eddie and Venom.

Eddie was rhythmically hitting his head off the glass. Mentally trying to reach out to Venom. He heard something and looked up and Skye was back with an amused expression. “We’ve started descending. We should be landing in about fifteen minutes.” She informed him. 

Eddie sighed in relief “Thank you.”

She gave a smug shrug. “Your welcome.” 

Eddie sighed and laid on the floor. They would be on the ground soon. The plane would no longer emitting the dangerous sonic frequencies. Maybe Venom could survive this. Even if Eddie didn’t. 

Even after they landed, the damage had been done and Venom wasn’t there to fix it anymore. And he didn’t see them ever letting him near Venom again. Which hurt more than anything he ever experienced. He felt alone. Empty. Hollow. But it would be worth it if Venom survived. If he escaped. 

“Eddie, can I ask you a question?” Skye prompted. 

“You can ask. Can’t promise that I’ll answer.” Eddie laughed.

“You’re not afraid of dying.” 

“That’s not a question.” Eddie reminded her.

“At first I thought you were worried about the symbiote because you two were still connected. But you aren’t afraid of dying.” Skye lowered her voice “So why do you care so much what happens to the alien that takes over your body and forces you to kill people?” 

Eddie sighed and shook his head and sat up. “Do you guys know what happened to Carlton Drake?” He asked. “He was taken over by a symbiote named Riot. He and Riot were going to get on that rocket, fly to that asteroid and bring back millions of symbiotes in order to take over our whole world. But Venom wasn’t going to let that happen. Even though the Life Foundation tortured him and starved him he saw that there were good people in this world and didn’t want to see it end. He betrayed his species, and fought Riot knowing that it would most likely kill him. All to save us. All to save me.” Eddie looked up at her with a shrug. “We owe him.”

* * *

Fitz eyed the container from the other side of the room. “Don’t pout at me.” He accused. “Your the one who went around eating people. It’s your own fault that you’re in this mess.” 

Skye walked in behind him, “Stop talking to it.” She said again. “I don’t think it can hear you anyway. It doesn’t have ears. Or eyes. It’s like a giant amoeba. Which is cool but probably makes communication difficult.” 

“What brings you in here?” Fitz asked. 

“We need to figure out a way to feed it.” She said looking at the container closely. “Eddie said earlier that it eats chocolate and potatoes.”

“Oh, it’s Eddie now is it?” Fitz asked. 

Skye gave him a look. “Yes, it’s Eddie. The man is dying in our custody, he’s allowed to have a first name.” She slumped into a chair. “They’re both dying. And we are killing them.” 

“Well what do you expect us to do? We can’t exactly put them back together. They’ll escape and go off eating half of San Francisco again.” 

“They weren’t eating half of San Francisco.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you think we could feed it?” Skye repeated, “Not anything alive. Or even meat. But do you really want to be the reason a real alien life form starves to death if all he needed was something so harmless as chocolate and potatoes?”

“How exactly would we do that?” Fitz asked credulously. “If we open that thing it will attack us and then we’ll be the ones eating heads.”

“We could put the container in a bigger container. Put the food in the bigger container. Close the bigger container. Open the smaller one to release him into the bigger container.” She proposed. 

“How would we open the small container after we shut the big container?”

“You could make a remote?” She said slowly, coming up with each word as she said it. 

“You want me to use my doctorate in engineering to build a remote to feed an alien that eats people?”

“We wouldn’t be feeding him people!” She rolled her eyes “I want you Leo Fitz to use your incredible mind and training to find a way to keep an alien life form- and possibly the extremely human man he is connected to- Alive.”

Fitz sighed. “I’m not going to just ‘make a remote.’ If we are doing this then we are doing it right. Safety parameters and backup features.”

Skye gave Fitz a hug and a “Thank you!” She pulled away, “I’ll go see what kind of chocolate and potatoes I can scrounge up.” 

* * *

The floor shook under Eddie as the plane landed. His foot shook anxiously as he watched the glass wall in front of him. It had taken too long to land after Eddie realized they were on a plane. It had taken Eddie too longer to realize it. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Venom could die and it would be all his fault because he could tell they were on a fucking plane.

He could feel the relief when the engines turned off like he was taking his first breath of air after hours of holding it. But no word from or about Venom. 

Why wouldn’t they tell him anything?

He stood up and took a few steps toward the glass, but his vision swam. He held out his hand to catch himself but missed the wall and stumbled. 

He shook his head, trying to reorient himself and which way was up and down. His head was pounding. 

He fell to his knees before crumpling to the floor. His head hitting the floor with a _smack!_

* * *

____

Ward and Coulson walked into the hospital together. Ward recognized doctor waiting outside for them. It was the one that seemed to be hiding something earlier. “Where’s the patient?” Coulson asked him. 

“Right this way.” The doctor said and led the two of them into the hospital. They winded through hall ways until finally the doctor led them into the room that they used for quarantine patients. He stopped right outside the room and turned to them. “Look, I hadn’t been completely honest with you. I wasn’t sure I could trust you when I saw you the first time.” Dan said, “You guys know this isn’t just some disease though.” 

Ward nodded. 

”Whatever that thing is that’s inside her... you need to get it out. You can do that right?” The man looked scared out of his wits.

“Are both the patient and the creature still here?”

Dan took a deep breath and gestured for them to go inside. Then shut the door behind himself. Coulson and Ward both put their hands on their weapons as they approached the hospital bed. 

Sitting on it was a woman with blonde hair in a suit. “Hi, I’m Anne Weying and I’m Eddie and Venoms lawyer. Do you mind telling me where my client is and why he has been denied his legal right to counsel?” 

* * *

Skye was walking back to the lab with her arms full of food when an alarm sounded. She dropped everything in her arms and ran to the lab and saw Simmons surrounded by shards of glass. Fitz was standing next to her with his arms extended. 

“I told you not to touch it yet! It wasn’t ready!” Fitz seemed in shock. 

“Its vitals were crashing. It was dying. I... I couldn’t let it die and take Eddie with it.” 

**We would never hurt Eddie.**

Jemma started with a jolt. “You _talk?”_

“It’s inside Jemma?” Skye couldn’t process everything happening at once. 

Fitz looked to Skye and sprinted to the wall and slammed his fist on a button on the wall and the lab locked down around them. Separating Fitz, Simmons and the alien off from the rest of the bus. 

”Get out of her right now!” Fitz demanded. 

Jemma looked at Fitz, her eyes wide. “Fitz, I’m so sorry.” She cried.

**Keep calm. I don’t want to hurt you.** The voice in her head assured but she could also _feel_ the hate and distaste coming from it. 

“Somehow I doubt that very much thank you!” Jemma threw her hands in the air. But she could also feel the creature recoiling from her reaction. It surprised her. The alien felt weak and broken like a beaten dog. “I’m... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” 

“What’s it saying to you?” Fitz asked. 

“Nothing, it’s fine.” She ignored Fitz worried glances and sighed. She was so hungry it was distracting. “Fitz, is there any food in here? I’m starving.” 

”What?” The question surprised him at first before he remembered the symptoms of being a host to one of these things. Increase appetite. Fever. Organ failure. He had to get that thing out of her.

“Uh, Yeah.” He said, as he looked around the room. Fitz opened up a drawer and pulled out a package of Oreos and threw them at her. She opened the package and inhaled them faster than should have been possible. Fitz was watching her carefully the whole time. 

**Mmmmm chocolate**

“I gotta admit I thought that was a joke when Eddie said you liked chocolate. I should have known better.” Simmons laughed despite herself.

A sharp pain hit her in the chest at Eddies name. **Eddie.** The alien said it almost longingly. 

“What exactly is your relationship with mr. Brock?” She asked tentatively. She practically whispered it. Trying to hide her conversation from Fitz. But he didn’t seem to be paying attention.

**Eddie is mine. He is the perfect host. He feeds us and takes care of us and we heal and protect him. Perfect symbiosis.**

”The notes from the Life Foundation said human hosts don’t usually survive long.” 

**That because the Life Foundation starved us. Sure they fed our hosts with some liquid that had nutrients in it, but we need more than that.**

Jemmas face went dark, “Is that why you killed people? Ate them? You needed to in order to survive?” 

She could feel the aliens exhaustion in her every muscle. **Even only bad guys is morally gray.** The alien said it robotically like it had said or heard the phrase a million times before. **We were trying to stop. Working with Dan to find what it was I needed and find another way when you stole Eddie.**

”So as long as you ate people you didn’t have to hurt Eddie. That’s how he survived so long as your host?” Jemma took a deep breath, preparing herself for the response to her next question. “So Why is he dying now if it wasn’t from you?” 

**Because of you.** Venom accused. The words bit and stung. **You did this. You separated us. Hurt us. The noises hurt us. You starved me of Eddie and Eddie of me. Eddie and I are one. We are Venom. You ripped us apart and watched us bleed out and did nothing.** There was a silence while Venom calmed down from his outburst. She could feel Venom searching her, her brain, her memories. At first she threw up walls instinctively, trying to keep the alien out. Then she closed her eyes and tried to show him, show him how they found them. The fear they had that this alien was controlling and killing Eddie. The concern when Eddie wasn’t getting better with the separation. Venom seemed to linger on every second of memory that Jemma was with Eddie or was watching Eddie through the monitors. **The longer we are together, the more it changes him.** Venom admitted. **If I knew we were going to be separated I could have changed his physiology back. But because I didn’t my weaknesses were his weaknesses.**

Jemma stood up and started working on her tablet. Fitz came over beside her. “You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said as she pulled up the live security video of Eddie. He was sitting with his back against the wall. She could feel Venom jump in excitement within her. “Just don’t eat me okay?” She whispered. 

**Eddie! Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie.**

Jemma gave a small smile, happy something so small could give so much joy to the alien. Strangely, the joy was contagious. It filled her too. And she recognized this feeling and it surprised her. The symbiote _loved _him.__

____

She looked to Fitz, who was still standing beside her, watching her every move. “Fitz, He wont hurt me.” She told him. 

____

“Oh did ‘he’ tell you that?” Fitz asked sarcastically. “If it’s so friendly why doesn’t it come out?” 

____

“Eddie told us he needed a host.” Jemma reminded him. 

____

“Well not you!” Fitz grabbed her hand. “If it needs a host then take me. Not you.” 

____

Jemma rolled her eyes and took her hand away. “Don’t be ridiculous. Venom can stay right where he is until Coulson and Grant come back.” 

____

**Eddie!** Venom turned Jemmas head and she watched as Eddie stood up, stumbled, then fell to the floor and started shaking uncontrollably. Blood running from his head. 

____

Jemma grabbed Fitz’s arm. “Fitz, do you trust me?” 

____

“Of course I trust you Jemma, but you are kind of infected by an body snatching alien.” He said in a harsh whisper as if that would mean Venom wouldn’t hear it. “Besides I couldn’t let you out even if I wanted to. I hit the quarantine switch.”

____

Jemma groaned. She was the on board medical doctor and Eddie needed her. She needed out. 

____

**He can’t. I can.**

____

* * *

____

They crashed through the glass, Venom covering every inch of Jemma. But he retreated inside the second the glass safely hit the floor. Jemma fell to her knees and checked Eddie for a pulse. 

____

Oh God. They were too late. 

____

**Trust me.** It was a plea for permission. Jemma closed her eyes, letting a tear fall as she nodded. 

____

Venom materialized from her hand and exiting Jemma, entered into Eddie. There was an eternity before Eddie took a sharp inhale, his eyes wide. Jemma couldn’t help but laugh in relief. 

____

“Venom,” The name was said in utter relief, recognition and reunion before interrupted by a “Sorry? for what?” Before the black slime flew out of Eddie and back into Jemma. “Venom?”

____

Jemma was just as surprised as Eddie. “What did you do?”

____

**I fixed what I broke. I fixed my Eddie. Then I came back. Because you trusted me and let me save him.** The alien wiggled inside her. **Thank you for letting me save Eddie. I will do anything to keep him safe. You can put me back in the cylinder now.**

____


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! The fall out of Venoms escape and a decision is reached about what to do about Eddie and Venom

“So,” Anne started “Do you mind telling me who you are and what you’ve done with Eddie and Venom?” 

Coulson gave a single chuckle, “Agent Phil Coulson and Agent Grant Ward of S.H.I.E.L.D. Why don’t we head over and after some questions you can see him?”

“I think he’s been deprived of his rights long enough.” Anne said with a glare. “You only have a couple hours left before you must either charge or release him by law.” 

Ward gave an unsettling smile. “I think his legal counsel is going to be a little preoccupied. You two realize you lied to federal agents wasting our time and resources?” 

Dans eyes got wide but Anne stayed entirely cool. “Are you arresting us?” She asked. 

“Let’s calling it bringing you in for questioning.” Coulson said. 

“Perfect.” Anne jumped off the bed. “And then I’ll be seeing Eddie.” 

* * *

Coulson and Ward walked onto the bus with a woman in a pantsuit and a doctor. May was waiting for them and walked up to Coulson and whispered in his ear. 

He heaved a sigh and told Ward “Take them to the interrogation room. I’ll be right there.” And walked up the stairs to his office with May. “What happened?” 

“The symbiote was failing and while trying to fix it Simmon dropped the container and it got out and got into Simmons. Fitz hit the quarantine switch but it still got out, went to Eddie and rejoined. Luckily Simmons was able to get it back into our last container but now we don’t have a container to hold the second symbiote you just brought in.” 

“There is no second symbiote.” 

“Then why did you bring in that doctor and woman?” 

“Questioning. They knew about Eddie and Venom all along. The woman says she’s Eddies lawyer.” He scoffed “God when are we going to get an easy mission?” 

He walked into his office where Jemma was already sitting across from his desk. Coulson sat in his seat with a sigh. “Please tell me that the symbiote took total control of your body and you are not responsible for your actions.” 

Simmons sat with her hands in her lap, looking down. 

“Tell me that the symbiote took total control of your body and you are not responsible for your actions.” He tried again. His voice barely giving away his real anger. 

She said nothing. 

“You have any idea how much damage has been done? How much more could have been done? What you did was dangerous, thoughtless and I expected better.” 

“Yes, sir”

“This whole this is just a mess. Fury is going to be pissed when he hears about this.” 

“Sir, if I may?” Jemma interjected. Coulson sighed before gesturing for her to continue. “I think we’ve made a mistake. When Venom was with me... I don’t think that we should take either of them to the detainment facility.” 

“Come again?” 

“If we take them, they will be separated forever which would kill Venom. Also, they were trying to stop and find a new way to feed Venom without hurting anyone and I’m confident that between me and Fitz we can figure it out and even though what they did was distasteful and morally gray... I saw their memories. Every single kill could be counted as self defense or defending another innocent life... And they did save the entire world from being overrun by millions of other symbiotes that would either make every single person on the planet either a host until it killed them or a snack. They stopped the rocket and stopped that from happening.”

“So you think we should give the man his alien back and just send them on their way to go eat more people?”

“I’m sure they will promise to never do it again. Especially if Fitz and I find another way of feeding Venom.” Jemma pulled out her tablet. “I’ve been looking at their vitals, as well as my own, and I think I’ve pinned down the chemical that Venom needs as being phenethylamine. It’s an easy substances to acquire. Once Eddie and Venom know they’ll be able to buy it over the counter and...” she trailed off upon looking at Agent Coulson. His face was in his hands and he was shaking his head. “Sir, when I left quarantine to save Eddie, Venom rejoined him only long enough to save his life and then came back to me of his own free will, knowing it would have been easy for him and Eddie to escape together and that coming back to me meant he was going to be imprisoned again and most likely die. They are good... people. Venom was starving and dying and could have easily devoured me to save himself. But he didn’t. We have done nothing but hurt them and yet Venom wouldn’t hurt me in return. They just want to be back together. They need each other.”

Coulson took a deep breath and walked out of the room without a word. Jemma turned to watch him with a “Sir?” But he kept going so she followed him. They walked to the room where they were keeping Eddie. 

Coulson opened the door and Eddie looked up from sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest and stood. “What’s going on?” He asked. 

“Come with me.” Coulson ordered and walked out leaving the door open behind him and not looking back to see if Eddie was following. 

Eddie tentatively followed with Jemma as Coulson led them to another room where Anne and Dan were. Eddie stopped as soon as he saw them I’m surprise. “What is going on?” He repeated. 

“Eddie Brock you have been charged by SHEILD with twelve counts of murder. I suggest you plea for self defense.” Coulson paused “we’re going to present you with the power protocol. Once you agree to those you will be free to go until your trial where Dr Simmons will be a character witness. She seems to think that you deserve a second chance.”

Eddie looked at Jemma who gave a small smile and two thumbs up. 

“What about Venom?” Anne and Eddie both asked at the same time. 

“Against my better judgement... he’ll be returned to you as long as you obey the power protocol.” Coulson said. Eddie fell to the floor in relief and disbelief “But if you were to break this agreement or any other terms of your bail you will be separated and detained for the rest of your lives. Do you understand me?” 

Anne stood up and offered a hand to Coulson who shook it. “Thank you Agent Coulson.” 

* * *

It took an hour for Anne to read the power protocols and negotiate the finer points of it. It felt like an eternity to Eddie. They wouldn’t let him see Venom until he signed it. Eddie wanted to sign it without reading it just to see Venom sooner but Anne talked him out of it. Which was probably best because she found some disagreeable elements to the agreement. Some age was able to change, some not. 

While Anne negotiated Dan and Simmons discussed Venom. Exchanging everything they knew excitedly with each other. Dan agreed that phenethylamine was their best bet for Venoms diet. Simmons had some ideas for medicating Eddies PTSD as well. 

Finally, Eddie sighed the paper and they led him to Fitz Simmons lab where they were keeping venom. He was inside one of those horrible containment cylinders. Moving slowly, like waves. Eddie put his hand on the container and looked up at Jemma. With a smile she used her finger print to open the container.

Eddie was knocked backward by the force of Venom jumping out of the container to him, hitting the wall with a laugh. Venom swam, popping inside and outside of him, searching his whole body, singing **Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie**

“I missed you too buddy.” Eddie sighed, feeling whole again for the first time in what felt like eternity. He didn’t even try to hide the tears rolling down his face. “I’m never going to lose you again. I promise.” 

**Eddie. My Eddie. My partner. My other. Mine.** Every emotion rolling off of Eddie was amplified by Venoms shared feeling. A feedback loop of relief, joy, and comfort. Endless and expansive. 

“Let’s go home.” He said looking from the black ooze weaving in and out of him to Anne and Dan who were watching from the corner of the room with small smiles. 

**We are home.**


End file.
